From: www.itworld.com

Linux spreading rapidly in Latin America

by James Hills

April 24, 2001 —

 

Linux, like the Internet, exists beyond the United States, Western Europe, and industrialized parts of Asia. The Linux OS has taken hold wherever computer users desire freedom, and wherever there is demand for inexpensive software. Latin America fits that description perfectly; current projections from IDG indicate that by 2003, 33 percent of computers in the region will be running Linux. (See Resources for a link.)

Linux has allowed Latin American governments to help their citizens become technological peers of people in more developed nations. Additionally, Microsoft and other American corporations have driven many people to Linux with their attempts to prevent piracy.

The market for Linux is not just rooted in necessity, but also in history. More developed Latin American countries like Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina use domestic and open source technology to give their people the tools and education to compete with the rest of the world. Those nations are attempting to buck the historical trend that led to their dependence on Britain and the United States for factory and railroad equipment in the industrial revolution. They are working to become peers in the new world information economy, instead of merely a source of low-cost industrial labor. Since Linux is open source and not tied to any company, it is the ideal operating system to help such nations build an independent future.

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On the other side of the struggle are American corporations like Microsoft and the Business Software Alliance. As a result of the poverty of local nations and other social issues, pirating software has become generally accepted in Latin American companies that cannot afford to purchase software legally. But by lobbying for tighter laws like the Lei de Software in Brazil (see Resources for a link), American companies are forcing Latin American businesses to re-examine their IT strategies. Paying full price for proprietary software (which is not practical for many), or using proprietary software illegally and facing steep fines or even prison time, are unpalatable choices for local businesses. American companies may actually be forcing themselves out of the market by passing such laws; they have left a gaping hole for Linux to fill.

As a result, Latin American schools, industry, and government are supporting a move to develop their own domestic software industry. In nations like Brazil, this is the logical extension of the previous efforts to build domestic heavy industry. The move is proving successful for several Latin American nations. Brazilian corporations like Connectiva, which makes a Linux distribution aimed at native Portuguese and Spanish speakers, and Cyclades, which makes Linux-based embedded systems, are now actually exporting products to the United States and the rest of the world.

The more established American Linux companies are also very aware of the rapidly growing demand for Linux products in Latin America. Caldera is one of the most active corporations in the region, and with the recent acquisition of SCO, may be in the best position to dominate the enterprise market, which has consumers with enough money to purchase proprietary software. Caldera plans to use SCO's old sales and support force in Latin America to migrate SCO's customers to Caldera Linux. Currently, SCO Unix is prevalent at many corporations throughout the region.

While Linux is known as a great operating system in the server and embedded space, Latin Americans are increasingly adopting it on the desktop as well. Specific figures are hard to come by, but the signs of growing awareness of Linux are there. In Brazil, supermarket newsstands are frequently filled with magazines that feature Linux on the cover, or on CDs enclosed in the pages. In the Latin American market, it looks as though Connectiva and Mandrake are the distributions of choice for home users, though Caldera, TurboLinux, and SuSE are making inroads as well.

Personal computers have less than a 10 percent penetration in even the largest Latin American markets, but that number is rapidly increasing. (See Resources for a link.) Brazil and Argentina are working hard to help their citizens gain access to computers. The Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology recently presented President Fernando Enrique Cardoso with a computer specification intended to be affordable for all Brazilians, not just the wealthy elite. (See Resources for links.) The device will only cost $200, will feature a 500-MHz Pentium processor, 64 MB of RAM, and will run Linux and KDE. With this plan, the ministry has made a solid endorsement of Linux and furthered the Brazilian government's positive track record of supporting open software.

Though it is most visible in Brazil and Argentina, Linux is also establishing itself in other nations. In Mexico, the government committed to making Linux the primary operating system for its schools and other government institutions. Interestingly, that decision was influenced by the realization that the government could switch to Linux and use the remaining money to fight poverty, instead of sending it north to the United States. (See Resources for a link.)

There have been some setbacks for Linux in Latin America, such as the Scholar Net program in Mexico that, due to lack of funding and political support, didn't reach its goal of placing 140,000 Red Hat boxes in schools by 1993. But Linux has a bright future in Mexico; it is cheap, offers independence from the United States, and can run on older hardware. During his campaign, the recently elected Mexican president, Vicente Fox, made numerous promises to modernize Mexico's schools and place computers in classrooms throughout the country. So far, he seems to be keeping his promises, and has even met with Ximian cofounder and CTO Miguel de Icaza. With luck, hard work, and perseverance, Mexico will soon be another strong Latin American Linux market.

Cuba has also embraced Linux. After years of embargos by the United States, Cuban doctors do not have access to the cutting-edge technology found in American hospitals. Instead, some Cuban doctors access medical manuals over the Internet using cheap PCs that run Linux. In Cuba, Linux is not just used for education -- it actually saves lives. (See Resources for a link.)

It is difficult to make specific predictions about Linux's future in Latin America. But based on the current efforts to adopt Linux in schools and government, and the penalties for illegal use of proprietary software, the outlook is bright. Based on cost alone, by using Linux, Latin American nations will be able to provide their citizens with significantly more computers than would be possible with proprietary products. This, in turn, will impact open source development efforts, as upcoming Latin American developers increasingly turn to Linux. Projects such as Ximian and Window Maker (see Resources for links), are already being led by Latin American Linux users -- and this is only the beginning.

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